Well, that's reassuring.

[randomness]

Today's New York Times' Dot Earth blog post links to a New York Times report that nuking the oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico is officially off the table, and includes a Soviet propaganda video showing a successful use of a nuclear explosion to seal a gas well. It also links to a Wikipedia page on the subject.

Russian Wikipedia has an entire category of pages devoted to the various nuclear detonations the USSR carried out for various non-military purposes.

To quote the report, 'Not everyone on the Internet is calling for nuking the well. Some are making jokes. “What’s worse than an oil spill?” asked a blogger on Full Comment, a blog of The National Post in Toronto. “A radioactive oil spill.”'

Comments

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I thought you wanted to nuke the spill!

PS: I'm sorry, but I think I'm developing a crush on Steven Chu.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I thought you wanted to nuke the spill!

I thought the idea was amusing in a "fun with fusion" kind of way. I didn't think it was a good plan.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I... you know, you did actually express that... but you expressed "I don't think it's a good plan" with so much glee about it... I wish I spoke Imp better.

[ulfhirtha.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the old CoC game's warning against trying to nuke Cthulhu - he comes back in 15 minutes and is now radioactive in the bargain. ;-)

Yeah, I've been listening to the reaction of the oil & engineering professionals whenever someone suggests that and their answer is uniformly the same - that's insane.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

I still like the idea of plugging the hole with BP execs. It may not work, but who cares.....

[redbird]

As long as they won't poison the turtles and shrimp.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. We could sterilize them first....

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

So you're saying I should buy that autoclave off Craigslist?